This review is part II in my "Blasts from the Past" series on early Saturn games. Many readers have been requesting
reviews of the older titles that have suddenly reappeared in the bargain bins of major retailers. Dark Saviour has
been on the Saturn market for three years, so how does it measure up by today's standards. Let's find out...

The Story
The story line of Dark Saviour centres around a futuristic bounty hunter named Garian. At the game's opening we learn
that Garian and his pals have recently succeeded in capturing the world's most dangerous criminal, a horribly mutated
creature that has been killing everything in it's path. One of Garian's best friends was killed in the fight so our
hero has made it his personal duty to escort the beast to Jailer's Island where it will be executed. En route to
the island, however, the villain escapes from it's cage and begins rampaging through the ship. This is where the
action begins. As the only man left alive, Garian must save the day.

The Graphics
The graphics in Dark Saviour are a mixture of polygon back grounds with high res sprites for the characters. This
system works fairly well but detracts somewhat from the realism. The sprites do not always line up properly with
the 3D objects they come in contact with. Also, the game will zoom in during fight scenes to give a better view of
the action. This tends to make the sprites pixelate. Aside from these minor detractors, however, I was pleased with
the graphics overall. They are well rendered and make good use of colour. It's looks a little dated by today's
standards, but it's not too bad either.

Sound / Music
The music in Dark Saviour is of average quality. It suits the atmosphere of the game, but the Saturn is definitely
capable of doing much better. Ditto for the sound effects. They get the job done but there's nothing extraordinary
about them.

Control
The control in Dark Saviour is typical of an action RPG game. You can walk or run in four directions, jump and execute
a sword slash. All of these actions are performed on the digital pad. If you own an analogue pad, however, you can use it
to rotate the view. This can be very handy in some places. It allows you to see behind objects or around corners before
you actually go there. My only complaint with this feature is that you cannot lock the camera angle. Once you let go it
automatically swivels back to it's naturally 3/4 overhead perspective. The same functionality may be achieved on a
standard digital pad but it's slightly more difficult to do (using the R and L buttons).

Moving Garian around his 3D world is fairly simple but can also be somewhat disorienting at times. Perhaps it's just
me, but I find that the 3/4 perspective makes it difficult to line up my jumps sometimes. It looks ok, but when you
actually do it you miss the platform completely. Of course this is what the rotating camera option is for. In some
of the more difficult sections you'll find yourself checking and rechecking to insure that you really are in line
with that ledge before you actually leap.

By far the weakest part of the game is the fight sequences. When you meet an opponent they will taunt you for a
moment and suddenly you're in a Street Fighter style brawl. I applaud Climax for trying something new, but it
wasn't very well done. Your actual fighting moves are very limited and somewhat repetitive. Most of the enemies
are not very intelligent and can be defeated easily. I only recall having problems with three or four of them.
There is a trick which allows you to capture your opponents abilities for use in later battles, but I was never
able to do it properly. Overall I would say that the fight scenes are really just an annoyance that you must
suffer through in order to continue with the real fun of exploring.

Difficulty
The difficulty in Dark Saviour is moderate. The world of Jailer's Island is not very big and you could probably
complete the game in a single weekend. One interesting point is that the game is not a continuous story, but
actually comprises three parallel story lines. Story 1 is pretty easy, but when you finish it you are suddenly
thrown back to the beginning and the game takes a different path. At some points you'll find yourself crossing
the route you took through Story 1 and seeing the same events from a different point of view. This is an
ingenious way of reusing the same locations without making the game repetitive. Even with the three different
endings, however, the game is still a bit on the short side. I beat it in about 14 hours.

Overall
Whether or not you will enjoy this game depends on how you approach it. If you are looking for an intense RPG
you'll be very disappointed. The role playing elements of the game are minimal and the fighting scenes are
boring. If, on the other hand, you just want a good platform action game then Dark Saviour may be a game
worth investigating. I enjoyed it.